


Van Horn

by Xazz



Series: Entropy [4]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Crucible (Destiny), Dark usage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Invasion of Privacy, Kissing, Light usage, Makeouts, Mostly Canon Compliant, Season of the Chosen, Smut, mental health wump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-25 11:00:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30088059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xazz/pseuds/Xazz
Summary: Things are... different for Shin now. He's turning over a new leaf, trying to make a different story for himself than the one everyone knows. It sucks. He hates it. Turning over a new leaf is the worst thing he ever did in his lifeexceptWolf seems to approve of everything he's doing. So he'll suffer it until it doesn't feel so wrong.
Relationships: Female Guardian/Shin Malphur
Series: Entropy [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172795
Comments: 15
Kudos: 20





	1. I didn't choose this city

**Author's Note:**

> So. I caught up story wise with what's happening in game. Meaning I can work on some other projects while Bungie spins out this whole Chosen storyline. There isn't a lot for Shin to stick his nose into for Chosen so this story is more character building than anything. I've got one more chapter planned so far with what we know but we'll see if that happens. Three to start with which I'll post over the week because I like making you wait ;)

It was late. Hunter late. Only the Traveler and the Hunters who couldn’t sleep were up at this hour. Shin wasn’t the only Hunter in the inner halls of the walls moving around or going out different exits to have a better transmat experience.

He’d had another nightmare. Old hat. Hunters had nightmares. That was why they couldn’t sleep. But it had been a very real nightmare. There had been Pyramids on Earth. He’d woken up in a cold sweat and hadn’t been able to go back to sleep.

He wandered the top of the Tower in the dark, only the light of the Traveler and the moon illuminated the Tower at this hour. More than enough to see by.

He found a familiar figure bent over the Vault screen. Shin was actually surprised to see her here. He figured she was out. 

It was a familiar scene and Shin went over and leaned against the wall next to the vault, arms folded casually. He didn’t say anything but watched their Ghosts ‘wave’ at each other with a flare of their shells. For his Ghost that was weird behavior. He didn’t like anyone but Shin and that was only on good days. Then Wolf raised her hand slightly to draw her Ghost’s attention from Shin, not looking at him. He knew she knew he was there. She pulled a sword out of the Vault and Shin watched her dissolve it and six other weapons into glimmer so quick they hardly had a chance to be weapons in her hands.

“What do you want, Shin?” Wolf asked as she scrolled her Vault’s list of weapons and armor available to her.

“Couldn’t sleep,” he said.

She turned and looked at him. She had a look of a Hunter who hadn’t slept more than an hour or two in a week. Eyes bright, hyper alert, eyes darting. “Shut up,” she said. He just smirked.

“You look like you could use some sleep yourself.”

“Can’t sleep yet,” she looked back at the Vault. “Imperial Cabal ships entered our system last week. Apparently the Cabal Empress is on board-

“I thought Calus was Emperor?”

“Deposed Emperor. Forsaken Emperor. Emperor of one ship with a legion of golden Cabal soldiers. He is Emperor of nothing,” she said, eyes scanning. She pulled out a sidearm, it dissolved into glimmer even as she effortlessly pulled the top slide back and off it, keeping it as a good part. Shin knew she had a good eye for good parts. “Apparently the Empress is his daughter.”

“... You know I hate when you remind me Cabal fuck,” he said. Wolf was so shocked she laughed and had to cover her mouth to control herself as she dissolved into a giggling fit. That made Shin smile and he felt just a little bit warmer. He got comfortable against the wall as she got her laughter under control. “So what’s the Empress doing all the way out here?”

“I dunno yet,” she said. “Apparently Zavala has a meeting with her tomorrow.”

“Cool. He bringing you, Glitterbomb and all your big scary guns?”

She smiled, “No,” she gave another short giggle. “We’re going to be on standby on the other side of the nearest world. If something goes sideways _then_ we’re allowed to commit regicide.”

“Eh, you’re good at it, you’ll be fine,” Shin scoffed.

“Shockingly we are,” Wolf went through a few pieces of armor, all glimmer. “I’m surprised you’re Tower-bound. I figured you’d want to get lost in the wilderness after I made you babysit Crow,” she smirked at him.

While that had been tempting he had decided against it. He had still let himself wander the Venus rainforests for a day or two to see if there was anything to see there. Other than some pissed off wildlife the Vex deployment there was at a century record low. He was also trying to turn over a new leaf. Hard to rewrite a few centuries of habits but he was trying. If Shin had done something before he was trying to do the opposite now.

Also Wolf spent more time in the Tower.

“It’s nice to have a bed I don’t have to worry about losing gravity in,” Shin said instead with a shrug. “Or a rock. You wouldn’t believe the fucking rocks I’ve slept on.”

“Considering I think you’ve eaten some just before seeing me sometimes I can believe it,” she said mildly.

“And the wilderness will always be there. I didn’t hear about the Red Legion attack for three weeks,” he said. Wolf got what he was saying. He missed the old Tower and regretted not spending more time there. Now it was gone.

“Trust me, that was probably for the best,” she said softly.

“You expecting this Empress to fuck shit up?”

“With the state of the Cabal legion? After what we’ve done to it? Hardly,” she scoffed. “But if she’s Calus’ daughter she’s not stupid. Hopefully we don’t have to show up and murder her and her guard on sight for trying to kill _another_ one of our Vanguard.”

Wolf took out more weapons. She put some back but turned most into glimmer, gun parts, and now and then a perfect purple shard. Shards were rare but Shin was sure Wolf was sitting on more than the entire militia could use in a year. Shin just watched her.

“How’s Crow?”

“Busy.”

“You seen him?”

“Not really. Osiris made him his project. Better that way. Keeps him out of the Tower,” she closed down the Vault, the illumination going from yellow to blue of the verification screen.

“You’re so full of shit,” Shin sighed.

“From one task master to another,” she rolled her eyes. “At least Osiris is nice about it. Ghost did relay a message a few day ago from Glint. Osiris is making use of his skills.”

“Anyone else see him?”

There was a weighty silence between them. “No,” she said. “As far as I know. He’s flying mostly solo for Osiris.”

“Probably better.”

“Probably,” she moved away from the vault, coming closer to him.

He looked her over. No longer in the yellow glow of the vault screen she really did look exhausted. “You should get some sleep.”

“Later,” she waved him off.

“If you might have to kill a Cabal Empress tomorrow you should be awake for it,” he said. “You look about as bad as when I found you in Europa, only not shivering.”

“I don’t look that bad,” she scoffed and ran her hand over her head in annoyance. “Definitely look better than you. When was the last time you slept?”

“I was asleep tonight thanks,” he said smugly. 

“You said you couldn’t sleep.” Shit. He had said that. She’d totally done that on purpose. “Nightmares?” He shrugged. “Want to talk about ‘em?”

“I’m sure they’re nothing compared to yours,” he said.

She was pensive, quiet, her eyes momentarily unfocused. “Probably right,” she said. Then she cracked her neck and was more upbeat, “Once I was done here I was going to go eat down in the City. Want to come? Cat’s actually sleeping or I’d drag their ass with,” she said.

“Uh, sure,” he was taken aback. He pushed himself off the wall. “There are places open this late?”

“They get enough Hunter business it’s worth it to stay open. Not all places, but some. Like that shitty ramen place Cayde dragged me to twelve times,” she huffed. 

“Shitty as in bad?”

“As in he was an EXO who couldn’t taste shit, like how spicy it was. I couldn’t taste for two days when he dragged me along,” she groaned and walked away, expecting Shin to follow. He did so quickly.

“So where are we going?” Shin asked even as Wolf disappeared in a shimmer of transmat. In three steps Shin was down beneath the Tower in the streets of the City, still keeping pace with Wolf.

“This barbeque place I like. They have veggies,” she added quickly.

“Is it just broccoli and cabbage? I hate that shit,” he complained.

“No, they have like actual vegetarian stuff. Lizard’s trying it, he recommended it,” she shrugged. The City streets were _empty_ of even rats. Everyone was sound asleep for the night, the only light being the street lamps with long patches of darkness between. 

“Lizard doesn’t strike me as someone with the stomach for it,” Shin said.

“I said he’s _trying_. There’s a pool on how long he’ll last. Want in?” Wolf asked as an afterthought.

“On if Lizard will stay vegetarian? How long’s he been doing it?”

“Since we came back from Europa,” she said thoughtfully.

“I give him three days and six hours,” Shin said without hesitation.

“With?”

“What are you guys betting? Glimmer? Shards? Cores?”

“Something that we would miss,” she said.

Shin thought about it while they walked the streets. Then Wolf stopped and turned into a small building. It was empty, as expected this late at night. But the one wait staff and cook who were playing cards on the table recognized two Hunters and waved excitedly, getting up to serve them.

“Are Lightless always this cheerful?” Shin asked once their waiter was gone.

Wolf just grinned and propped her cheek up with her fist. “They are around Guardians. I forgot you’re a dead giveaway,” she looked him over. He was still in his armor. Wolf looked hardly like a Hunter except for the intricate Guardian cloak. “Smile a little,” she said before their waiter came back with their drinks. Wolf smiled the entire time at the Lightless. Shin stared when Wolf just casually introduced herself and Shin by name. Her real name.

The waiter left for them to look at the food offered. Shin was still staring. “What?” Wolf asked.

“You don’t tell most Guardians,” he said. “It took me like five months to get it out of you.”

“Oh. It doesn’t matter,” she said with a shrug. “They don’t know I’m the Young Wolf, Slayer of Oryx,” she spoke softly so they wouldn’t hear. Not that Shin thought they would as the two were talking in loud but indistinct voices from the kitchen. “I’m just a Guardian to them and it doesn’t matter if they know my name.”

“You haven’t even told Crow,” he said.

“I was a lot closer to Cayde than you,” was all she said and looked down at the menu. The topic of discussion was over. Especially because he’d brought Crow into it.

Shin also looked at the menu. There were meat selections he didn’t look at but also a nice array of vegetables that fit his taste. He put it down once he’d figured out what he wanted. Wolf had her eyes closed pretending to read. He reached across the table and touched her arm. She woke with a start. “Sure you wouldn’t rather get some sleep?”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, blinking rapidly to wake herself up. “Ghost, go get our waiter,” she added. Shin watched her Ghost float away. There were surprised yells from inside the kitchen and Wolf chuckled.

“I think you like scaring the Lightless,” Shin said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Wolf said, grinning.

“I have distinct memories of you jumping off the old Tower to freak them out,” Shin said thoughtfully.

“Whaaat? No. No way that was me. I’m an upstanding Guardian,” she giggled.

“You’re right, it was some other God Killer I’m thinking of,” Shin smirked as their waiter came out, Wolf’s Ghost bobbing around beside them. He took their order and retreated back into the kitchen, nervous but excited. Shin could relate.

They didn’t talk while they waited but it wasn’t uncomfortable. They were both used to the silence and appreciated the quiet company. Their Ghosts flew about the little restaurant. Shin hadn’t seen his Ghost so interested in another Ghost in a long time. He still didn’t talk but he was gladly following Wolf’s around as it zipped about looking at everything in the store. They both mostly watched their Ghosts, enjoying the easy to have silence.

Shin knocked Wolf in the shin as their food came out of the kitchen, jerking her awake. She rubbed her face with one hand as half a bird was put in front of her. Shin wasn’t quite sure what it was. Chicken maybe? Or it could have been a pigeon. He hoped Wolf didn’t tell Saint-14 about the food she had down here.

Their Ghosts came to investigate the food as they ate, scanning it, before becoming disinterested. Not unlike a cat who just wanted to smell your food and deemed it unworthy of them.

“So when’s Zavala’s meeting with the Empress?”

“Mid morning,” Wolf said. The two times her eyes had closed had really zapped her of any illusion she had put up that she wasn’t sleep deprived. “Glitterbomb and I are going out shortly after dawn to scout the area, see what forces might be there, and pick a world to hide behind.” She was picking at her food, eating but barely. She rubbed the side of her face tiredly. “If everything goes well I’ll be back by the afternoon.”

“Yeah? Then what? Sleep?”

“Maybe,” she shrugged.

Shin knew better than to keep bugging her about sleep. Hunters didn’t sleep. It sucked. Sleeping was a vulnerability for Titan and Warlocks. Hunters didn’t have the luxury.

“Dawn’s still a ways off,” Shin said. He’d finished his food. Wolf had managed about half of it, she kept blinking slowly, pushing the mashed sweet potato around on her plate. She just nodded. “You done? I think those Lightless wanna go home.”

“Huh? Oh,” she sat up properly and looked around. The cook and waiter were waiting outside the kitchen but were too nervous to ask a pair of Guardians to leave. “I got it,” and she beckoned her Ghost and held out a hand. A good sized cube of Blue appeared in her palm and she put it down. “Let’s go,” she nodded at Shin and got up. “Thanks for the meal,” she beamed at the Lightless. Shin had never seen her smile like that. Not even post raid excitement. So it was fake. The mortals didn’t notice and just said to come back any time.

“I didn’t think the City actually traded in Blue,” Shin said as he held the door for Wolf. Glimmer quickly became too heavy and dense to carry around for normal people who didn’t have space ships to carry it around for them. And other than Ghosts or specific machines normal people couldn’t break the Glimmer up into usable blocks.

“It doesn’t. But they can take it to a foundry or a workshop and get it turned into City money,” she yawned. “They’ll accept it from a Guardian, they know we don’t carry around City money, not like they’d accept it. If you just leave Glimmer they have to.” Shin followed after Wolf as they headed back towards the Wall. The few lights that had been on on their walk out were off now. 

Their Ghosts pulled them up the Wall when they were close enough. Wolf’s Ghost must have known where she wanted to go and told his because they appeared down at the Annex. “Oh, I just remembered,” Shin said. “Drifter’s been bothering me-”

“I dunno how that’s my problem?” Wolf scoffed.

“He’s been asking about you.” Shin followed her up one of the metal staircases up the side of the Wall. “Wondering when you’re going to come play Gambit again.”

“Been busy,” Wolf said.

“You should at least go talk to him. I know he’ll never say it but I think he misses you.”

Wolf stopped at the top of the stairwell and looked down at Shin. “Really?”

“I mean for Drifter,” he shrugged. “You’re like partners or whatever he says to avoid saying he’s got friends?”

“Yeah that sounds right,” she sighed and continued along the catwalk across an open drop.

“Never been to this part of the Tower,” he said thoughtfully.

“It used to connect it to another around the Wall. No one comes out here anymore,” and she climbed another set of stairs. “It’s quiet out here.”

At the top of the stairs was the top of the Wall with a protected grated floor. The catwalks and stairs continued along the wall towards the empty Tower in the distance. Wolf just jumped over the railing onto the top of the Wall and a jut in the stone.

“Nice view,” he said, coming to stand next to her. He’d never seen the City from this angle or the Traveler. 

“And it’s far enough away no one can find you but still close enough to transmat back to the Annex,” she said. “It is a nice view,” she sat on the stone Wall, giving the edge ample room and her neck bowed, she was so tired. 

Shin sat next to her. They watched their Ghosts flit around in front of them. “Really Wolf, when was the last time you slept? Like actually slept?”

Wolf didn’t answer him at first. “Two weeks?” she asked herself. “You’d have to ask my Ghost, he keeps track of when to scold me for not sleeping,” she sighed and rubbed her neck.

“Why not?”

“Lots of bad dreams,” she said softly. “More than usual. Been making it hard to sleep.”

Shin hesitated. “Want to talk about it?”

“Just the same shit as usual: Oryx, Crota, Aksis, Riven, Aetheon, the Pyramids now,” she said softly. Then she sighed and looked at the Traveler. “Lot of boogie men in my dreams. If I’d known I was giving up eternal slumber for never sleeping again I’d honestly prefer the former.” They both laughed knowing it wasn’t true.

“How long they been bad like this?”

“Hmmm, since Europa?” Then she closed her eyes thinking about something nice, he could tell by the tilt of her head. “Last time I slept good was Europa too.” That didn’t make sense to Shin. Then she looked at him and it hit him like a brick to the face. She’d fallen asleep on him twice when she’d been on Europa. He was glad his hood hid his ears because they were _burning_.

“Uh... you’re welcome?” Shin asked, feeling really stupid. How the fuck did he respond to that?

Wolf just gave him a tired look. Shin wasn’t sure how to interpret it. Then he felt the rest of his face turn red when Wolf got up and then sat right in his lap, back to chest. This was fine. This was fine. She leaned back against him and Shin was sure she could feel his heart hammering through his armor. He shouldn’t have been as stressed about this as he was. He’d had Wolf in his lap before, several times. But he also hadn’t kissed her then, he hadn’t fucked off for two months and learned how to use his Darkness then.

“I like the Traveler more from this angle I think,” Wolf said. “You can’t see as much of the hole in it.”

“You’d think now that it was awake it’d pull the shard from the EDZ to it, actually become whole,” Shin said.

“I don’t think it can.”

“It’s the Traveler.”

“Yeah. But I think it’s still crippled. It must have lost so much of its power making all the Ghosts.” At the sound of their names the Ghosts paused in their flight around them to look at them, make sure they weren’t needed, and carried on.

“Maybe,” Shin said. He followed his Ghost who was flittering about. He seemed almost whimsical. He’d never seen his Ghost like that. “Your Ghost act like this normally?”

“Like a spaz? Yeah. He’s a spaz,” she said, sounding more tired than ever.

“Mine never does.”

“Well if you’re lucky mine is rubbing off on yours,” she yawned softly, covering her mouth. “Yours is such a grump.”

“Not my fault, he was like that before I got him,” Shin said and that made her chuckle. “Hey Wolf,” he said slowly, knowing she got annoyed when he brought it up. She hummed, listening. “It’s safe here.” They both knew what he was implying.

“I guess so,” she said. She didn’t say anything else and Shin wondered if he should say anything. He just stayed quiet and watched their Ghosts. He perked up when he felt more than anything Wolf sag against his arm. He looked around her and saw her eyes were closed. So she had taken what he’d said to heart. This was a safe place to sleep. 

Shin didn’t move and just let her sleep. Two weeks on limited Hunter naps wasn’t enough. Even he needed some real sleep before that. He rested his chin lightly on her shoulder but that didn’t phase her and just watched the Traveler.

Dawn came slowly. Her Ghost came over as the sun was rising over the mountains. “We need to go,” he told Shin.

“Glitterbomb can do it without her.”

Her Ghost scowled at him. “Maybe but she wants to be with them. You don’t get to decide that,” he went to go bump into Wolf to wake her up and he grabbed the Ghost out of the air.

“It’s only just dawn,” he said sternly. “She said past dawn.”

It teleported out of his hand on his other side and too quick for him to bring his hand around, Wolf was leaning against the other, her Ghost bumped into her head. Wolf was awake in an instant. “Huh?” She sat up straight then realized where she was and relaxed.

“It’s dawn,” her Ghost said.

“Right,” she sighed. Shin held very still as she stretched then seemed to remember he was there. She turned around. “You’re a pretty good pillow for having a chest plate,” she rapped her knuckles lightly on the metal chest piece.

“I’m full of hidden surprises,” he said.

“I gotta go,” she sighed and unfolded from his lap standing off to the side. She stretched again and it was the most distracting thing in the world. As she did her Ghost transmatted her armor on her in a shimmer of white lattice work, the rising sun reflecting off her metal plate. “Thanks for the company,” she looking down at him, “Let’s do it again sometime.” Then she was gone.

Shin stared at where she’d been. Then he scratched his head in confusion. His Ghost drifted over to him. “That went well,” his Ghost said. “You two had a very nice date-

“Woah woah, what,” Shin said. “That wasn’t what that was at all.”

“Then what was it?” his Ghost cocked his shell at him in a confused way.

Shin just sat there. “Fuck— it totally was, wasn’t it? What the fuck? Why?”

“Well isn’t that usually what you people do when you are interested in someone-

“No I mean like she’s _clearly_ out of my fucking league what the fuck?” Shin had at least enough awareness to know Wolf was way, way, way out of his league. He’d been a fucking idiot kissing her in European orbit because he’d been full of his own shit. Now that he was working on not being like old Shin he knew he had no business being anything to Wolf.

“I’m glad you recognize that. But she doesn’t think so,” his Ghost said simply.

“She’s brain damaged,” Shin said. His Ghost chuckled.

His Ghost floated around his head. “Or maybe she likes this new leaf Shin Malphur has turned over?” He landed on top of Shin’s hood. “You certainly aren’t the same man from a few months ago. She did say she agreed with you trying to start over. Perhaps this Shin Malphur is suitable, hmm?”

Shin just sat there for a bit. Normally when faced with an awkward moment like this Shin would collect a couple of very dangerous bounties to other worlds and fuck off for a few weeks. But old Shin ran from his problems all the time and Shin was trying to do everything opposite what he would have normally done.

So no running from his problems.

This was _awful_. He hated turning over a new leaf.


	2. Looking like it's time tonight for fight or flight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been thinking about how Lightless would interact with Guardians, especially well known Guardians. And how Guardians deal with being The Guardian. Like the one. The Chosen of the Light. How that really skews the way people look at you and treat you and act like your life is just something they can put their nose into without permission. Especially when said Guardian keeps everything so close to the chest.

Everyone knew about the Cabal Proving. Lesser Cabal tried to stake a claim but the Vanguard had put an order out: destroy all Cabal on sight. The lower ranked Cabal who even made a try at it didn’t last long. Shin heard about the other ones. Decorated war veterans who commanded a legion. Trying to win Caiatl’s favor for her council.

He caught VODs of that from members of Glitterbomb helmet cams. Officially they weren’t allowed to show official Vanguard ops like that but ‘someone’ let them leak and they were soon everywhere in the Tower and the City. It was a significant boost to morale and Shin didn’t think it was an accident.

Shin didn’t care about any of that really. It was above his head to give a shit. He knew the Vanguard and Glitterbomb would take care of it, just like always. He thought maybe he _should_ care but he just couldn’t bring himself to.

Instead he was trying to get in touch with Crow. He was almost impossible to find or get a hold of. But Shin was good at finding people. He knew Crow was in the Tower area most of the time, probably waiting for orders from Osiris, and he never saw him in the Tower itself.

It took Shin all of a week to learn about a H.E.L.M and then six hours to find it and twenty minutes to get inside.

The inner door opened and startled a Guardian in white and back armor standing there. They whirled and Shin blinked. “What the fuck happened to the helmet I got you?” Shin asked, scolding Crow when he saw he was wearing the _ugliest_ mask in the world. 

“Shin what are you doing here?” Crow didn’t answer the question.

“Looking for you, duh,” Shin said.

“F-for me? Why?” Even with his mask on Shin could see the lower parts of his eyes darken in a blush.

Shin closed the door. “I wanted to see how you were doing. Make sure Osiris isn’t making you a weirdo.”

“Oh,” Crow said softly, relieved? Let down?

“Wolf said you’ve been busy.”

“I have been,” he nodded. “It’s almost like what I did for Spider but—

“You’re not working for scum like Spider?”

“Yeah exactly I pref-

They both looked up when there was a shout from up the stairs. “What was that?” Crow asked slowly.

“That sounded like Wolf,” and Shin immediately moved away from Crow and went up the stairs.

“I’ll fucking _kill_ this guy!” Wolf was at the end of the hallway in the room. Shin glanced around. Only frames. Down at the end of room was a long table where Wolf was standing and seated at it were two figures.

“You didn’t hear it from me,” he heard one of the figures say as he slowly approached the table.

“What’s the matter?” Crow had come up the other side at the same time. He’d gotten way better at staying hidden as Shin hadn’t even noticed him.

“Hey lil boss,” Shin recognized the two Guardians at the table now. It was the twins. Alex had his feet on the table and Alshain was at least sitting normally.

“Wolf found out she’s got a biography written about her,” Alshain actually answered the question.

“Oof, my condolences,” Shin said.

“An _eighth edition_ printing,” she was seething.

“It got any wild inconsistencies in it? Those are my favorite to read about,” Shin said casually, hands on his belt.

“Do not fuck with me right now,” she said.

“I mean one about me comes out like once every half a century or so. I’m surprised you only have one.”

“One I know about,” Alshain corrected.

“Why the fuck does someone write books about you?” Crow asked, leaning around Wolf’s back to look at Shin.

“I killed a guy everyone hated one time.”

“Wow being humble, Shin. Didn’t know you had it in you,” Alex said.

“I’m full of shock value,” Shin said sarcastically. The twins snickered. 

Wolf was busy hate reading the book. He could tell by the set of her shoulders and how fast she was turning the pages, scanning to see how bad it was. “Must have really been someone everyone hated,” Crow said.

“He was,” Shin said, the old memory coming into stark relief at the front of his mind. He’d never forget that night. He looked when the twins both stood up at the table.

“Quite a commotion going on here. What is it?” Osiris had apparently noticed all the people gathered. And Wolf’s shouting about killing someone.

“Do you know a Warlock named Finnius Rend?” Wolf asked him immediately.

Osiris looked thoughtful. “I believe he’s a thanatonaut. Doesn’t get out much from what I recall.”

“What’s that?” Crow asked.

“Warlocks who think they can see the future by killing themselves and having a vision of the Light in the moment before resurrection,” Alshain explained.

“I’ll show him a Traveler damned vision of the Light,” Wolf threw the book down on the table and stalked out.

They were all quiet for a moment. “What was that about?” Osiris asked.

Alshain reached over to grab the book. “Rend wrote a book about her without her permission,” he said.

“Oh. That’s all?”

“It seems very disrespectful,” Crow said quietly.

“It is unfortunately what happens when you are a well known Guardian,” Osiris said.

“Yeah. You should have _seen_ all the trashy fake ass romance books Lightless used to publish about Saint and the boss-

“That’s quite enough Alex,” Osiris said sternly. The twins just laughed. Crow was looking wide eyed at Osiris. “There was actual literature also written about me,” he added to Crow.

“All of it wrong because no one actually wanted to talk to you,” Shin said casually. “They never get it right,” he sighed and folded his arms.

“You’re just... okay with them making stuff up about you?” Crow asked.

“What’s it matter? It’s not going to stop them. I’m sure for this one book that’s just a biography there’s dozens of other books about Glitterbomb. They just don’t know about them. They’re too famous to not have them,” Shin said casually.

“Still seems an invasion of privacy.”

“Completely,” Shin agreed.

“It’s an unfortunate side effect of being of power,” Osiris said. “Hopefully you’ll not have to know about it,” he told Crow. Crow looked so uncomfortable.

“I’m going to go make sure she doesn’t actually go kill that Warlock’s Ghost,” Shin said.

“That’s your job, right?” Alex asked.

Shin just stared at him. “Not anymore,” and he left. He could feel the surprised looks following him.

He left the H.E.L.M and took the most obvious route to a directory with a map of the inner Walls. It took him no time to find this Rend’s workshop amid the Warlocks area where Warlocks could request workshop space for their research so it didn’t just completely take over their rooms. Shin went right there.

Down the hall to him was Wolf, checking each plaque on each door. He went over to her. “You know it really isn’t worth it,” he said, startling her.

She spun. “Shin, what? What are you doing here?”

“Making sure you don’t do something stupid.”

She scowled at him. “That shit is unacceptable,” she said.

“Look, I get you’re mad. But it isn’t going to change anything. It’s one book.”

“Eight editions, Shin,” she said.

“Hey Ghost, do me a favor. Look up in the City library how many books are written about Glitterbomb?” Shin asked knowing Wolf was going to _hate_ this.

Her Ghost looked sheepish as best it could. “Thirty,” he said after a few seconds.

Wolf stood there a few seconds and Shin actually felt sort of bad when she turned away from him and put her head against the wall. She rubbed her face but he didn’t think she was actually crying. She was very upset. “Fuck you, Shin,” she said softly.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Are you?”

“Going into his workshop and shooting him won’t make you feel better,” Shin said helpfully. “I know. I did that to my first few biographers.”

“It just makes me so _mad_ ,” she hissed, still facing the wall. The hallway got significantly colder around them. Shin glanced up and saw ice starting to form on the ceiling, creeping down the wall, a glance around told him a halo of Stasis ice was forming around Wolf from her anger, creeping closer. He’d never seen her lose control of her power like this. He was sure it wasn’t possible. Well except for Cayde’s murder but that was a special circumstances.

“I know,” he said, just accepting her anger. Wolf was a very private person and finding out a book full of things she hadn’t said or done was such an invasion of her privacy.

The hallway kept getting colder, and colder. Shin’s breath came out as fog. He just let it happen.

“Ghost? Those other books, are they at least marked fiction?” Wolf asked her Ghost quietly.

“Let me check. There are twenty-eight marked as fiction, the biography isn’t, and the other is a historic text documenting the last ten years as a whole,” her Ghost said. The ice didn’t recede but it didn’t get any closer to Wolf.

Shin waited a few more minutes. A few Warlocks poked their heads out to see why it was so cold in the area, recognized them by their cloaks and quickly closed their doors. He finally went and stood next to her. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said softly and grabbed her hand. It was ice cold.

“It isn’t. It will be,” she said, her voice cracking but she still wasn’t crying, her breath didn’t create any fog. She was as cold as the surrounding air.

“Do you want to go talk to him at least?” Shin squeezed her hand.

“Will you stop me from shooting him?”

“Yeah.”

She sighed. “Can I threaten him a little?”

“You can threaten him as much as you want. Tower Warlocks usually shrivel up when you yell at them. I find that way more cathartic than shooting them, because then they’re _afraid_ of you.” She didn’t respond. “Shooting him would also make him afraid of you,” he said, realizing she didn’t want that. She nodded slightly.

Another few chilly minutes passed. Shin’s hand was so cold. He flexed it around her fingers slightly, a few bits of thin Stasis ice broke off and fell silently on the ground. Then Wolf took a deep, even breath. On the exhale all the ice around melted and warmth returned to the hallway. “Better?” He grunted in surprise when she turned away from the wall and hugged him. Shin wasn’t sure what to do for a second before both Ghosts _glared_ at him. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back.

Wolf sighed and pulled away. “Thanks,” she said.

“Sure,” Shin said.

“I’m going to talk to him. Will you come with me?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want.”

“I’m still mad. I don’t want to do something... stupid.”

“Heh, I don’t blame you. It’s down the hall,” he motioned. He was surprised when she grabbed his hand as she followed him.


	3. Well tell me do you me hate me. Or do you wanna date me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3 things  
> 1\. This is a LONG ass chapter holy shit. There just was not a good place to stop  
> 2\. We get to see what Shin's Darkness  
> 3\. FINALLY!!!!!!

Staying too long in the Tower with nothing to do was torture. Shin didn’t really like even sleeping in his bed in the Walls. It was too still, too quiet. He missed the sound of the wilderness night, or the hum of his ship’s engine. The vents in the Wall apartments blew silently.

So Shin had trouble sleeping. Which was why he was out on the Wall. He probably shouldn’t have been at Wolf’s Spot but she was right. It was a nice spot. It was better than wandering the Tower. And out away from the Tower at night there were plenty of bugs that made the sounds of night time.

“You should tell Wolf you come here,” his Ghost said as he watched the Traveler.

“Why?” not accusatory, his voice was soft.

“She might join you.” Shin scoffed. “You can’t lie to me, Shin.”

“She’s busy.”

“I’m letting her know-

“What! No!” He grabbed at his Ghost but he just floated out of range. His light flared out Shin just stared at him. “Why are you such an asshole?”

“It’s good for you,” his Ghost said smugly.

“Good for your ego maybe!”

“You did promise to show her to use your Darkness.”

Shin frowned deeply at him. “Stop setting me up.”

His Ghost frowned back at him. “No.”

“You are acting way out of line, Ghost. You can’t just send Wolf’s Ghost unsolicited messages.”

“I did.”

“She hates when people do that!” Shin yelled at him. “We just had that huge Stasis melt down two days ago about this,” Shin motioned with one arm aggressively. “You _do not_ just direct line to Wolf, do we understand each other?”

His Ghost was staring at him, shocked Shin would yell at him about that. His shell spun slowly. “I see,” he said. Shin didn’t like the way he said that.

“Do we?” Shin demanded.

“Very well.” Then he looked surprised when a little beeping noise came out of him. “Wolf is calling.”

Shin sighed. “Put her through.”

His shell expanded slightly and he floated back down to Shin’s eye level. “You know, I didn’t show you that spot for you to go without me,” her voice came out of his Ghost in a teasing way.

“Go the fuck back to sleep, you,” Shin huffed.

“Too late. Yell at him for me, would you?”

“You’re in luck, I did already.”

“Good. What are you doing out there anyway?”

“It’s too quiet.”

There was a long pause. “You get used to it.”

“I’d rather not.” His Ghost sent him a look even while expanded. “Well... since you’re up. Want to try and fuck around with my Dark?”

His Ghost collapsed. “She hung up,” his Ghost said, confused.

“Wait for it,” Shin sighed. He rubbed the side of his face.Oh what had he just gotten himself into?

It was three minutes, long enough for Wolf to get out of bed, get to the edge of the Walls, and then his Ghost looked very surprised by an anchor ping. Wolf appeared in a transmat. His Ghost still looked surprised. Shin just had his hands on his belt looking resigned. She hadn’t even fixed her hair from sleeping even as she ran a gloved hand through it. He was really annoyed how distracting it was.

“You’re late,” he said blandly.

“I got here in like two minutes _max_ ,” she said.

“Man made me wait two whole minutes. You’re getting slow,” he grinned when she playfully punched his shoulder.

“So? Show me,” she said eagerly.

“On the Wall?”

She rolled her eyes. “No one’s here to see.”

“And and nothing to use it on,” Shin said.

“Ugh, fine,” and Shin started when he was transmatted without warning twice in quick succession. Once to the Annex and then to a familiar ship interior.

“Warn a guy would ya,” Shin said, having to get his bearings and adjust to suddenly being on Wolf’s ship.

“And give you a chance to say no? Hell no,” she said.

“Where are we going?”

“EDZ, it’s the closest live fire area,” she said.

“Right.”

Wolf pulled down her folding wall table and two chairs. “I’ve been practicing,” she said.

“Huh?” And she pulled out a deck of cards. It’d take an hour or so to get to the EDZ while flying in atmosphere, plenty of time to play a game or three. He immediately sat down in one of the chairs. “Let’s see if you _actually_ got any better.”

“Just don’t cheat and I might actually give you a run for your money,” she said cheerfully, sitting and sliding the cards out. She shuffled.

“So... you ever tell Crow what the knife game was?” Shin asked slowly.

“No. Those fucking twins of Osiris did,” she scowled. “But he did make them so I can’t be too pissed I guess.” She dealt the cards. “Apparently he’s their superior, so they have to do what he says.”

“I dunno who I feel sorry for. Crow for having subordinates like them, or the twins having a two year old Commander,” that made her laugh. He played the first card.

“Definitely Crow having to manage the twins. What’s up with them anyway?”

“Osiris’ favorite Hunters before he was banished. Far as I remember they ran secret ops for him. Private relic hunts. Breaking into secret Golden Age ruins. Deals with the Sunbreakers back when they were banned from the City. Shit like that.”

“If it was a secret how do you know?”

“It came out after he was banished. They got put on trial too along with his main supporters who didn’t vote for his expulsion.”

“Speaker was threatened by him,” she said.

He shrugged. “The two _never_ got along. The Speakers were useless for the Vanguard but after... after we almost lost the City a few times it was determined Speakers needed more power to reign in the heavy hand of the Vanguard.” They’d casually played a few cards. “They and other Osiris loyalists were banished too.”

“What fucking idiots,” Wolf huffed.

“Yeaaap,” Shin popped the P a little. “It was a very unpopular opinion to shed like a hundred Guardians just because they happened to like Osiris. Consensus sided with the Speaker. They were all banished. Then we lost Saint and _so many_ Guardians blamed the Speaker for that.”

“Why?”

He gave her a look. “The only people who didn’t know Osiris and Saint were in love was _literally them_ ,” Shin said. Wolf giggled into her hand. “So that’s what’s up with the twins.”

“They don’t even look alike. And their EXO.”

Shin shrugged. “Don’t know that story. You’d have to ask them.”

“Also, I win,” she said, putting down her last card.

Shin started and jerked forward to look at the game properly. “What?” He looked at his cards, the cards on the table, then at her. She had a smirk curled up in one side of her mouth and she looked so good. He banished the thought. “Good play. You really distracted me,” he said, impressed. It took a lot to distract Shin from cards.

“And I learned something,” she said primly.

“Again?”

“Sure. We got a while still,” she offered him the deck to shuffle. Shin shuffled up and dealt. This time he didn’t let her get a conversation out of him. Just to prove a point he beat her in five. “You’re such a bastard, you know that!” Wolf groaned.

“I didn’t even cheat that game,” he said.

“Like I said: bastard,” she stuck her tongue out at him. They played again, Shin didn’t take it too seriously. He beat her in fifteen instead.

They both felt when the ship came to a halt. “Oh, we’re here,” and Wolf got up, game forgotten. As she got up a helmet appeared on her head. It occurred to Shin then.

“I don’t have a helmet,” he said.

They stared at each other for a second. “Ummm-“ and Wolf went to the other side of her ship and opened a locker. She tossed out three pairs of gloves, a _single_ boot, and like six different shaped knives before pulling out a helmet. “I don’t really have a lot of extra helmets, you can use this one if you want,” she said.

“You? Ms. Armor-For-Every-Occasion, don’t have twelve helmets laying around?”

“They’re all ugly okay?” Wolf huffed at him. “I know you don’t give a shit about how you look but _some_ of us have a reputation where we shoot things and look good doing it.”

Shin got up and took the offered helmet. “I think we can work with this.” He looked it over. It was literally the nicest helmet he’d ever seen what the fuck. He offered it to his Ghost who scanned it and then it shimmered in Shin’s hand, the size adjusting to fit Shin’s head. He pulled it on and adjusted it a bit to make sure the fit was good. It had never been worn before so the padding was still new and fresh. Had that ‘not even been remade by the Light’ smell to it. “You just had this helmet laying around and never wore it?”

She shrugged. “I usually just stick with the ones I like. Also mind the HUD on that one, it’s a bit overly complicated.”

“Ugh. Don’t need that,” Shin agreed as he saw it. It was to help you make quicker decisions, sharpen your focus. If you weren’t used to it it was a bit cluttered though.

“Winding Cove?” Wolf asked, holding her Ghost above her palm.

“Too early to go bother Devrim?”

“He took the week off to spend time with his husband,” she said. Shin didn’t know how Wolf knew that. How she kept up with everything and everyone all the time.

“Winding Cove area is fine then,” he said. She immediately transmatted away. Shin glanced at his Ghost and he appeared at the Winding Cove LZ.

“So let’s see it,” Wolf said once he appeared.

“Gimme a sec,” he said. He was still full of Light. He held out his hands and a few seconds later a cluster of Dark motes appeared in them. Wolf cocked her head, not understanding what he was doing. He absorbed them and he felt it eat his Light down to a barely flicker, spreading through his body like a flash fire. The Light was still there like in a nested cage but it was diminished by the Dark.

“What was that for?”

“I can’t just switch,” he said.

“Really?”

“The best way I can describe it is that my Light is in equilibrium with it and then when it gets triggered it takes over. To do so I need to absorb some Dark.”

“Huh,” she was genuinely curious, hands on her hips, looking him over. “With Stasis it’s just like going to any other subclass for me.”

“Yeah well it’s well established you’re a freak of Light with a Major Everything,” and that made her laugh.

“You have a name for it?”

“I...” he’d tried not to think about it. But after the fight with the Celebrant and he’d been able to see what that marble could do. It had crept into his thoughts. “I call it Hunger,” he said.

"That is... An interesting name," Wolf said.

"You'll see," he said. Wolf had been dead the one time he'd used it in a live fire situation.

"Yes! I'm excited to see. Maybe you can show me how."

"I dunno," Shin admitted slowly. They walked around the big rock formations that protected the Cove's LZ. Since Caiatl had arrived the nearby Cabal base had extended it's reach out here to the Cove and had bullied out the local Fallen trying to avoid being shot by patrolling Guardians. They ran patrols on the Cove extensively.

They walked up to a rise that had destroyed and scattered Fallen tech around and hunkered down, waiting. They didn't have to wait that long before they heard the gutteral whine of an interceptor on a patrol route through the Cove.

They both peered over some of the wrecked machines and Shin let the dewdrop form in his hand. It came so quickly he was surprised by it and formed a strange hard shell about the size of a throwable ball in his hand. So he could hold it at least. The interceptor was a ways off still but getting closer. Shin shook his head a little to clear it. Holding the dark ball like this was not advised. He was hearing whispers. Like when he used Thorn too much.

Finally the interceptor came within throwing distance. Shin stood up and threw the ball. It hit the front of the intercepter and they both yelled in surprise when it created a small field at the front of the machine and smashed it into the ground at full force, causing the back to flip upwards, and send the psion piloting it flying.

"That was so cool!" Wolf yelled, also standing.

Shin flexed his hand. It didn't feel great. The whispering had stopped at least. Holding the grenade for so long had started to turn the bones in his hand into powder. His Ghost noticed and a second layer it was fine. No pain or memory of the pain. "Yeah. It smashes," Shin said with a grin.

"Not exactly 'hunger' I'd say," Wolf said.

"You'll see."

"What about that knife you made to cut up the Celebrant? It do anything cool?"

"I've never tried it on a live target," he admitted.

"Well," she motioned to the psion picking itself up from the ground where it had been launched. It spotted them and howled at them, pulling out it's rifle and started shooting. Wolf ducked. "Hate psions," she said.

"They are very annoying," Shin agreed. He knew from his practice in the Pyramid that something that hungered would look for food. He didn't know what that meant until now.

Making the knife was the hard part. He'd only done it once that he could remember. The rest of the time in the Pyramid was a blur. He remembered things but not specifics. It took him a minute of crouching next to Wolf while the psion shot at them before he could produce one of the black knives. It edge warped the air around it. No. Not the air. The light.

"That thing is pretty cool," she said.

"It really sucks to hold," Shin stood up and threw the knife at the psion advancing on their location, chittering furiously to itself. It had been a bad throw. Didn't matter. The knife flew right for the psion's throat and lodged itself there, piercing armor, skin, and whatever else was in the way. Normally the pressure difference of breaking the seal between a Cabal's armor and Earth caused their weird black blood to spew out dramatically.

There was no blood.

"Hmmm. Not as flashy at all," she said.

"Sorry. Not everything blows up when you throw something at it," Shin said sarcastically. "But it's a one hit kill on probably most things."

"How you figure that?" She followed him as he got up and went over to the psion. The knife was gone. So was all the psion's blood.

"It ate him," Shin said.

Wolf hesitated. "That is both really freaky and kinda cool. More freaky."

"It's the Dark. It should terrify," Shin said.

"Stasis isn’t terrifying," she said.

"It's the fear of an unstoppable winter. Paralyzing your body. Ice freezing in your blood. Players are calling for it to be _banned_ in Crucible. You want to know how fucked up something gotta be to be banned by Shaxx?"

Wolf tilted her head to the side. "I guess. It's a useful tool against our enemies. A tool isn’t evil, only the hand that wields it."

Shin stared at her, almost immediately disassociating. A long time ago someone else had said that to him. Someone who _was_ evil.

"Shin?" his Ghost bumped into his neck.

"I do like the grenade, it's super fun," she said.

Shin wasn’t really hearing her. “Yeah,” he said. He heard her voice and she was talking about how it could be useful but he wasn’t really able to understand her. His ears were ringing so loudly.

“Shin,” she touched his arm, making him jump. “You hear me? You okay? I called your name like three times.”

“Yeah,” he said slowly.

“You sure?” She squeezed his arm in concern.

“I’m fine,” Shin said, brushing it off. He was trying to be in the present moment again.

Wolf looked at his Ghost over his shoulder. His Ghost offered nothing. “Okay,” she said slowly.

“If Stasis was actually dangerous you wouldn’t use it, right?” Shin blurted out.

“What? I mean, define dangerous,” she said.

“Like it made you different.”

“Well I don’t think that would happen. But if it was actually dangerous I guess not? I wouldn’t want to end up like those older Guardians who let it get to them. I have too much to do.”

That made Shin feel a little better. “Okay.”

“Why? You sure you’re okay?”

“I just...” old Shin would deflect. Say it was nothing. Damn him trying to be different. “Someone once said something similar to me a long time ago. And then they killed _a lot_ of people with what should have been something used to help them.”

He wasn’t sure if Wolf connected the dots there. “Well I’m not that person,” she said.

“I know.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up an old memory.”

“Not your fault. You couldn’t have known.”

“You good to use Hunger some more?”

“Yeah. There’s a ton left. I need to burn it out to get rid of it. It’s actually kinda annoying,” he said. He needed room for the Light to come back. So far he had found that to make room laughter worked, or anything that made him feel happy. Ghost telling him stupid Tower bulletins usually worked. Knowing someone had to write all the stupid names Fireteams came up for each other was always a good laugh. The first time he’d heard that a fireteam named _Glitterbomb_ had gone into the Vault of Glass had made him laugh.

“So let’s see the big one,” Wolf said cheerfully.

“Feels like a waste to use it on one enemy,” Shin said.

“Firebase is down the way. Maybe they’ll have a _tank_ ,” she said excitedly.

“Sure,” he glanced at his Ghost and his sparrow appeared. “Next patrol isn’t for a little while.”

“It have an AOE?” Wolf asked as her own sparrow appeared under her. Shin was instantly distracted by her sitting on it, leaned over so one hand was on the handlebar.

“Sort of? A localized AOE if that makes any sense? Like it doesn’t explode. It just kinda... pops into being big and then that’s it,” he said, trying to figure the best way to explain it. “And you need to stay away from it. It sucks.”

“What?”

“Like... it pulls you in,” he elaborated.

“Ohh. Well I’m sure I can convince some Cabal to volunteer to let you try it on them,” and she leaned down the rest of the way on her sparrow. Shin knew his eyes weren’t visibe behind his helmet but he still looked away from the distraction.

Shin followed Wolf out of the Cove and around the long way to the Firebase. Even at this hour the Firebase was well manned. Though the sun was starting to rise. It might just be starting to wake up. “So,” Wolf said over comms as they pulled their sparrows up at the top of a rise blocked by trees, “want to see something stupid?”

“Sure?” Shin stayed on his sparrow as Wolf got off. He absolutely watched because he couldn’t help himself. Fucking idiot. Wolf exited the tree line, a different cloak appearing on her. Shin cocked his head to the side. It looked... kinda like a Cabal commander’s flag.

Below her on the rise some Cabal were going through sort of training. Gunfire training where they were shooting at practice targets.

Shin jumped off his sparrow when Wolf jumped down from the short cliff. Oh, what stupid shit was she doing now?

He got to the edge of the cliff and looked over. The sound of training had stopped and all the Cabal had stopped and turned to look at her. Shin rose his brows when the next second a thrown knife appeared in the forehead of who was very clearly the leader of this training just as the alarms went off in the Firebase. That was a good throw. Difficult to get with all those big bodies.

Then all the Cabal opened fire.

He heard Wolf laughing over comms as she jumped in the air and spun, twirling out a storm of blades that exploded on impact. Shin was slightly jealous. He knew some Gunslingers who could do that, some who’d been close to Cayde, but it was never something he’d figured out. The entire training group went up in a fireball.

“That was pretty cool,” Shin said.

“Right? Oh, here comes the stupid part,” she pointed across the Firebase as a group of Cabal spilled out. “Oooo! They brought out a tank to deal with me! I feel so honored,” she laughed.

“I think it could eat a tank,” Shin said slowly. “It ate a Celebrant.” He jumped down next to her. “Also what’s with the cape?”

“I picked it up off the last Cabal commander who was trying to suck up to Caiatl. The Cabal _hate_ when I wear it,” she said, charmed. They both ducked when the tank fired at them. “You going to deal with the tank or what?”

“Yeah yeah,” Shin jogged forward and around. They weren’t worried about him. They were trying to shoot Wolf. Some other Guardian was not in their vision. Perfect for Shin.

Shin formed the black marble and it started to instantly crush his bones. He threw it quickly and his Ghost healed his hand. The marble hit the front of the tank exactly where he’d aimed and expanded to a hundred time’s its original diameter. It didn’t directly damage the tank but Shin did watch as it pulled about half a dozen unaware Cabal into its darkness. Then the hole collapsed and the front of the tank that had been engulfed by Hunger was just _gone_.

“WOAH!” Wolf yelled over comms. “Hungry boy.”

“I did say it was,” Shin said and now the Cabal cared about him. They shot at him. He tossed the crushing grenade at the closest group and after a few seconds of resisting became mounds of armor and goop on the ground and dodged backwards, getting some distance.

He heard the loud snap of Wolf’s gun down range. Several Cabal went down in a shower of their own black blood as Wolf popped their helmets’ pressure. Not to be outdone Shin pulled out the Last Word with a habitual twirl.

The regiment sent to deal with Wolf were taken care of in short order. He headed back to Wolf who’d been hanging back with a new gun he’d never seen her use. “What’s that?”

“New toy,” she said, loading the scout’s bullets two at a time. Then she finished and Shin’s eyes widened when she spun it, putting the butt down on the ground, leaning on the barrel.

“It’s nice,” he looked down at it.

“Tex Mechanica make,” she said. “I know, you’re fave.”

“Just because Last Word is made by the foundry doesn’t mean its my fave.”

“It’s _literally_ the only gun you use,” she said.

“I use other stuff. Last Word’s just my fave,” Shin protested. “Use what you like, right? Can I see it?”

“You going to give it back?” He heard the smirk in her voice. She knew he was really interested in it.

“Sure,” he rolled his eyes. She picked it up and offered it to him.

Beyond it being Tex Mechanica... Shin recognized this gun. “Where’d you get this?”

“Found it.”

“Don’t bullshit me. I know this gun. Where’d you get it?”

“I found it on a dead guy,” she said patiently.

Shin’s shoulders slumped a little. “Oh.”

“You knew him?”

“Once. Didn’t talk to him in a while,” Shin put the gun up against his shoulder, looking down the iron sights. “He bothered Tex Mechanica for like half a century to make him a gun like the Last Word but a rifle. Took ‘em ten years to concept and make the thing.”

“You know his name?”

Shin squinted. “This was like three centuries ago.” He tilted his head trying to remember. They hadn’t been _friends_ by any stretch of the imagination. More like Crucible rivals. Shin always beat him in rumble matches where if Shin wasn’t there he was basically unbeatable. Then he’d gotten this gun. Whoever lost had to, hypothetically, buy the other a bear. Shin owed the guy like a hundred beers. He’d owed Shin two hundred. “I can’t remember,” he said.

“You can’t remember a friend’s name? What the fuck?”

“We weren’t friends,” Shin said shortly. “We just killed each other a lot in Crucible.”

“Ah.”

“Maybe ask Shaxx. His records might go back that far.”

“Can I have it back?” Shin lowered the gun. It felt real nice. He bet it felt real good to shoot too. “You can’t have it,” she said when he hesitated, “I like it too.” He chuckled and handed it back.

“The Cabal going to send out reinforcements?” Shin asked.

“They don’t have the numbers anymore. They let the ones who want to go try come out, try and do something. Next time I come by I’m sure there will be more who feel honor bound because I killed their friends to try again too. Used to be they’d send out grunts until I just left,” she shrugged. “Their numbers are not limitless, no matter how much Caiatl wants to convince us it is. If it was she wouldn’t have tried to ask the Guardians to join their broken Empire.”

“Wait. What?”

“That’s what Zavala said,” she shrugged. “Bow to the Empress, join their fractured Empire.”

“I’m sure that went over great with Zavala,” he said sarcastically.

“Like a warbeast’s fart,” she said, that made him chuckle. “So what’s that sucky boy called?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, I haven’t come up with a name,” he said. “That’s the second time I’ve used it on something alive.”

“We’ll workshop it. Can you teach me to do that?”

“I... don’t know?” Shin admitted. He knew he could teach Guardians to use the Light. He’d really shown Crow how to use his Light. Kid was a good Gunslinger once he got a handle on it. Couldn’t throw a damn knife to save his life but that’d come with practice. “Hunger is not like Stasis.”

“It’s still the Dark,” she protested.

“Yeah but it’s fueled by the Hive,” he said. “Yours was gifted by the Pyramids.”

“But the Pyramids showed you how to use yours,” she was just trying to figure it out really.

“But how I got it in the first place was different. I just refined it there. Before it was just... a wildfire.”

“Hmm,” her sparrow appeared under her. Watching her legs adjust around it was so distracting. He tried not to stare but he absolutely did. “Devrim isn’t in his perch today so you could try and show me there,” she said.

“R-right,” Shin cleared his throat. His brain was unhelpfully showing him what it could look like if she sat on him like that. His sparrow appeared and he got on. “After you,” he motioned. Wolf spun her sparrow and jetted away.

“You like her,” his Ghost said against his helmet, startling him.

“Do not do that,” he shoved his Ghost into a soft pouch on his belt. Before it could pop out again he pulled the throttle and zipped after Wolf’s ion trail.

Wolf was waiting for him on the other side of the Cove and once he’d caught up continued on. Weaving through the streets of Trotsland to get to the church was not what Shin would define as fun but Wolf enjoyed almost crashing a few times. Not for the first time he wished he had the same sort of reckless abandon previously dead Guardians had. No fear of death. It was the one thing from his first life he just couldn’t shake.

The church was quiet. The Fallen around were quite tired of getting shot by Guardians and with what was happening on Europa a lot had just fucked off. To where Shin had no idea. He followed Wolf up to Devrim’s usual hangout. It was weird seeing it empty. Soft morning light spilled in through the one un-boarded window that was Devrim’s lookout.

Wolf sat on the shitty couch on the lower level beneath Devrim’s perch. She pulled her helmet off with a soft grunt and put it on the ground. Shin let his Ghost take his off and it was carefully lined up next to Wolf’s. “So if you teach me Hunger you want to learn how to use something I can?”

Shin thought about it. He was pretty jealous she could use Blade Barrage so effortlessly. He’d heard it was more temperamental than Gunslinger but _fuck_ it looked so cool. He didn’t want to touch Stasis. Nightstalker was completely beyond him, he’d tried _a lot_ , and while he had a Minor Affinity for Arc it never really worked the way he wanted it to after they lost touch with the Traveler.

“Blade Barrage I guess-

“You can’t do that? Man I figured you’d be all about it.”

Shin shrugged. “It’s fairly new and you had to be there when it was developed to really learn it,” he said. “I wasn’t invited to the party.”

“Well not surprised, you’re the life of the party,” she teased him.

“I can just go you know.”

“You won’t,” she said, a smirk curled against the side of her cheek. Then she leaned forward. “So, show me?”

“I guess? I don’t really- here, hold this,” and he handed her a dewdrop. A single speck of Hunger.

She dropped it almost immediatly. Shin hadn’t triggered it into anything so it just sort of fizzled across the floor. “That hurt,” she said, flexing her hand.

“It’s Hunger. It wants to feed, always, on anything,” he made another dew drop. “It doesn’t hurt me until I form it into something.”

“It _hurts you?_ ” Wolf asked, concerned.

“A little,” he shrugged. He formed the black knife. “The knife doesn’t hurt as much. _Do not_ cut yourself with it,” he handed it to her hilt first.

She took it carefully. She could only hold it for a few seconds before she threw it and shook her hand out. “It feels like... like-

“Like it’s crushing all the bones in your hand?”

“Yeah,” she frowned.

“Yeah. It does that.”

“Stasis doesn’t do that to me.”

“Stasis is just frozen. Trust me, it absolutely freezes you.”

“How would you know.”

Shin blinked at her. “Did you forget needing me as your personal Solar heat generator?” Shin asked her sarcastically. “Trust me, it makes you cold as fuck. You are just used to it.”

“I guess,” she said at length. Then she was quiet for a second before the air around them grew a little cooler. “Let me try again,” she held her hand out.

Shin made another knife and handed it over. She could hold it for a few more seconds but not much longer. She still shook her hand when it started to hurt. “Why’s it hurt?” Wolf asked him.

“Because its Hive magic reshaped by the Light,” Shin said. “You saw it before I went into the Pyramid. It looked like Hive fire.”

“Hmmm,” she was thoughtful. “How’d you... get that anyway?”

“The Dark?” Wolf nodded. “I’m not _entirely_ sure,” he admitted. “Just over time hunting Guardians who turned to Darkness and the Hive for something it just seeped in.And probably this fucking thing,” he unholstered Thorn. He hadn’t used it in a while, it was pretty inert.

“I thought you cleansed it.”

“I did. Took me a while. It’s still a weapon of Sorrow- what?”

“How do you know about those sorts of things?”

“Wolf, like my entire life has been hunting rogue Guardians who mess with the Hive. Some of them even become obsessed with _me_ because I killed Dredgen Yor and have this gun. I have heard enough to know a thing or two in their mad rambles.” It wasn’t untrue. Maybe not the whole truth. But it wasn’t a lie. “But before I cleaned it up the Thorn was a very evil thing. Might have rubbed off on me,” he frowned looking at it. He’d been shot so many times by this thing in his nightmares. Most recently and often by Wolf. He was pretty sure it was just anxiety. He put the gun away. “But it isn’t like Stasis. Some higher Darkness didn’t gift it to me.”

Wolf looked very thoughtful. “When you started using it earlier you had to absorb Darkness,” she said. He nodded. “I couldn’t use Stasis until I’d communed with the Darkness and it was given to me,” she held out her hand. “If it’s a different type Darkness then maybe I need to do the same.”

Shin didn’t like what she was saying. He absolutely did not want to give this corrupting Darkness to Wolf. He didn’t even know it would become Hunger in her. It could just be the fire. It could just be something uncontrolled. “Not so fast,” he said to deflect. “You haven’t shown me _any_ Blade Barrage.”

She huffed in annoyance. “C’mon Shin.”

“At least I can use Solar Light, you might not even be able to use Hunger.”

“Finnnne,” she complained. Then she pulled out one of her knives. It immediately burned along the edge. “So as you can imagine, the style is about your knives.”

“Edging a knife in Solar is old hat.”

“Yeah but these _explode_ ,” she grinned. “And the embers empower your Light. Dunno how that works, not a Light scholar, but it does.” He chuckled. She offered him the knife, it was so thin and sharp.

“Ah fuck,” he muttered. He was still full of Hunger. Even just touching something empowered by Light wasn’t okay. The Light Wolf had infused into the knife was consumed by the Darkness.

“Wha-

“I told you, it _hungers_.”

“Well switch back,” she said annoyed.

“I also told you I can’t just do that. I need to use it up.”

“Or make room,” his Ghost said, surprising them both.

“Make room?” Wolf asked.

“I have no idea how you manage four powers in one body but for me they just fill me to the brim one at a time. Right now it’s Darkness. I either need to use it or... like he said make room for the Light to expand into.”

Wolf cocked her head at him. “Is that normal?”

“For what? For Guardians to have trouble moving between Lights? Yes.”

“Glitterbomb doesn’t have that problem, neither do I.”

“We’ve established you’re all weird,” Shin said. “Most Guardians can’t just rapid shift. I’m sure some of Glitterbomb can’t they just don’t want to admit it.”

Wolf didn’t look fully convinced. “Ghost, is he bullshitting me?” Shin wasn’t sure which Ghost she was asking. Neither did they and exchanged looks from where they’d been silently watching from behind the couch.

“Surprisingly, not this time,” his Ghost said.

“ _Thanks_ for that,” Shin growled at his Ghost sarcastically.

“So how do you ‘make room’ or whatever?” Wolf asked and hooked one arm over the back of the couch.

“Well...

“Well?”

Saying it out loud was weirdly embarrassing? It shouldn’t have been. But any admittance to not being able to do something easily felt too much like a weakness to Shin. It was an annoying perfectionist part of him that came from the knowledge that anything less than perfect got you killed. It was an old mortal thing. The weakest part of him was always the part before he’d become a Lightbearer and it was annoyingly hard to shake off. Even after countless revives and centuries past. Admitting weakness was a liability that could see you dead.

“He needs to be happy,” his Ghost piped in.

“You don’t have to say it _like that_ ,” Shin growled at it again.

“Shin? Happy? That sounds like a _tall_ order, Ghost,” Wolf said, teasing him.

“Fuck you,” he smacked her leg. She laughed, covering her giggling mouth. Solar Light burned off a bit of Hunger.

“Like actually?” Wolf asked, no longer laughing but a smile still tucked into her mouth.

“Well usually if its a problem I just ask Ghost to tell me all the stupid op or fireteam names of the day. Or the names some Guardians put in as their Crucible billing. Knowing Shaxx has to introduce them by that is always amusing,” Shin said.

“And he does so enthusiastically as always,” Wolf said. “I let him pick one of my names if I play. Always fun to scare the pants off Guardians knowing they’re going against the Slayer of Oryx,” she grinned.

“Or hearing the ways Guardians use their Light to mess around on the Tower,” his Ghost said, actually helpfully. He was being uncharacteristically talkative lately. “Like Stasis Guardians making ugly snowmen of Arach Jalal during the Dawning.”

“Yeaaahhh, that started with Cat,” Wolf said fondly. “They actually buy into it and made a _nice_ snowman of Jalal. Then everyone made their own. I liked the shitty snowmen better,” she giggled. “Oh, you missed the Dawning,” she said apologetically.

“It’s fine. Dawning really isn’t my thing.”

“But the Tower always looks so nice, and this year there was real snow,” her eyes got so bright and wide as she talked.

“I take it you enjoy the Dawning?” Shin leaned against the back of the couch which how he was sitting was the side of the couch.

“I like all the Tower holidays but the Dawning is my favorite,” she agreed. “Ms. Levante is so nice and sweet and its the one holiday where I don’t celebrate by going and shooting shit in the head. I spend a lot of time in the Tower or down in the City.”

“The City?”

“That’s where Ms. Levante lives of course, when she’s not in the Tower.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Do you even celebrate the Dawning?”

“I’m usually away from the City during it,” Shin said mildly.

“Ugh. You’re so boring,” she waved a hand at his dismissively. “You’re supposed to give gifts during the Dawning. Lots of Guardians give out gifts to their friends or Lightless down in the City. Little things, you know, to remind everyone we care. A lot of them make things. Like folded paper sculptures with their Ghosts or program their glimmer into little Dawning trinkets.

“I’ve never made anything. I’m good at shooting stuff, not making stuff. Ms. Levante was very concerned when I didn’t participate in the Dawning my first year, or my second year, or my third year. She offered to help me since I was uh-

“Useless?” her Ghost chimed in with a chuckle.

“I’d say more I needed _help_ ,” she gave her Ghost a look. “But Ms. Levante showed me how to bake cookies.” That was not where Shin thought that was going. “She’s been showing me how to make a new one every year,” he remembered the smile she gave to those Lightless at that barbecue place they’d gone to a few weeks ago. It was almost as bright. It just wasn’t fake and put on like she put it on for them. “So I spend a lot of time down in the City in her kitchen since the one in my apartment is _useless_ and bake a whole bunch and give them out, then do it again. This year I learned,” she paused in thought. “Biscotti, right, biscotti,” she nodded to herself. “Those are Crow’s favorite you know?”

“I had no idea,” he said casually, really just enjoying listening to her. It wasn’t often Guardians got to talk about the other stuff they did other than shoot things. “What else can you make?”

Wolf listed off a bunch of different cookies and pastries she knew how to make and Shin was pleasantly surprised. He was sure it was all going to be cookies. But no. She also knew how to make a cake, which by the length of time took her to describe it, was _enormous_ , and donuts that apparently looked like the Traveler, and homemade tapioca pudding. And apparently all the treats Eva Levante was teaching her to make were also intricately decorated. Shin wasn’t sure he believed _that_ since Wolf couldn’t even focus on cards, how did she focus on frosting fifty cookies at a time?

“Oh, right, Ghost, Ghost,” she apparently read his mind because she continued, “you have those images right?”

“Hmm, yes.”

“Bullshit you made those,” Shin leaned over as her Ghost projected a plate of cookies that looked like old Strange Coins onto the small space between them.

“I totally did!” Ghost went through an album he must have of all of the treats Wolf had learned to make over the years. Wolf talked about each one as they appeared. After the third one Shin stopped looking at the treats. He was looking at her.

It took her a minute or so to notice. “You good? Oh, you’re glowing- why are you glowing?”

Shit. Well that was embarrassing. Shin immediatly stamped down the flare up and leaned back. They’d been leaning close together while Wolf was talking about her baking. “Well, got that Solar Light I wanted,” he said. Now that he was paying attention Hunger was like how the Light had been. Wrapped up in Light, unable to consume.

Wolf cocked her head to the side, not quite understanding. His Ghost had said him being happy made the Darkness reced. But listening to how enthusiastic Wolf was about the Dawning had really made him, not happy exactly. But man it was hard to be moody when a pretty girl was excitedly showing you all the intricately decorated cookies she made for people.

“Your excitement is pretty infectious,” he said. “Makes me almost want to participate next year.”

“Well if you tell me what you like I’ll ask Ms. Levante to help me make something for you,” she said brightly.

His stupid mouth betrayed him. “I don’t really like anything but you.”

“Oh, so then I can make ones I like then,” she said smugly.

“If that would make you happy, yes,” he said softly, leaning against his knee.

“You know what would, right now?” Wolf asked him.

“Hmm?”

“If you weren’t such a fucking coward and kissed me.”

That surprised him. But he wasn’t going to ignore a direct invitation. He’d thought about kissing her from the moment he’d seen her on the Shore. But knew he couldn’t. Wasn’t allowed. Even now he knew he was way out of his depth, with enough self awareness that a guy like him had no business being anywhere near Wolf. She was so radiant and full of Light and terrified all things Dark. And Shin was just a shadow.

He still kissed her anyway. Because he wasn’t a coward. And he made a note to always do whatever Wolf said.

It was a soft thing. He didn’t linger too long against her mouth, not wanting to overstay his welcome. But when he pulled away she just leaned forward and kissed him more. She grabbed the hood of his cloak, pulling on it, pulling him closer. He wasn’t about to argue with that.

He only noticed when his back jammed up against the thread bare, moth eaten, arm of the couch that they’d changed positions. Wolf was straddling one of his legs, hands on his shoulders and he was holding the back of her neck, his other hand at her hip. Wolf was making a good example of figuring out the exact shape of his mouth with her own.

Then like she was hit by a bolt of lightning, she sat up, mid kiss, leaving Shin hanging. “Fuck,” she said.

“Uh?”

“Devrim is going to fucking kill me.”

That didn’t relieve any of his confusion. “What? Why?”

“He’s got a very strict no flirting in his church rule,” she got off him and stood up.

“He’s not even _here_ ,” Shin complained. He pushed himself off the arm of the couch. “You said he was in the City visiting his husband all week.”

She looked down at him. “He knows shit like how I know shit. Trust me; he’d know.” Shin couldn’t even argue a counter point. Devrim did seem to have an uncanny ability to just know about _everything_ that happened in his overwatch including the church. And he’d absolutely heard of the no flirting in the church rule. It had never applied to him before this moment though. Who the fuck would try and flirt with Shin while he was out in the EDZ?

“I guess,” he allowed.

She paused and then cocked her head slightly to one side. “My ship doesn’t have that rule,” she said.

“I’d hope not.” Wolf glanced at her Ghost and she disappeared half a second before he did.

As soon as he got his footing back on Wolf’s ship she grabbed him by the scarf and yanked him down so she could kiss him again. This time it wasn’t just a casual make out kiss. This was a hot kiss. He could feel a heat against his skin he reflected right back at her. At least she wasn’t a total weirdo and did flare up a little when passionate. She ran a hand up his check and neck to thread her fingers through his hair, his hood falling down around his shoulders. A little voice in the back of his head reminded him Wolf said she liked his hair longer. Probably for this reason. He could live with that. Gladly.

Shin absolutely felt a change in temperature in the ship from both of their Solar Light. The big engines rumbled a little quieter, not having to make the heating in the ship work as hard to make it warm against the icy touch of space. Or maybe it was just Shin. Wolf’s Light was dim against his. She was holding herself back. As usual. A fine control that rarely slipped and he’d never seen anyone match.

She made the cutest little surprised noise when Shin leaned down, hooked his hands under her thighs, and picked her up. Then he took the three steps required to get to her lounge. She had no actual bed on her ship like a reasonable person. Just the wide seated lounge he knew she slept on. She’d literally slept on him on the thing.

He set her down on the lounge gently before taking a knee between her thighs. She kissed him again gently. “And here I thought the jacket just made your arms look big,” she teased him, her mouth against the line of his jaw, nuzzling him.

He turned his face into the curve of her neck. “I’m full of surprises, I know,” he layered a few kisses against her neck. He felt the pounding of her heart there. Excited. “What else can I do to make you happy?” Shin whispered into her ear. She shivered against him, her hands momentarily useless and like they didn’t know what to do with themselves.

“Help me out of this shit,” she said.

Shin helped her remove her gear. The buckles and straps and pouches were all dropped onto the ground. Cape and gauntlets joined the pile with the pauldrons that tinkled along the floor where Shin dropped them. Half way through Wolf started pulling on his gear. Somehow they were more clumsy with four hands than if they’d just stopped for a moment to take off their gear, or let their Ghosts do it. But transmatting stuff so close like this, so near another person, was _never_ a good idea. And Shin didn’t want to move away from her. Not like Wolf let him get far, grabbing him, and kissing him, keeping him close.

It took them a while between their restlessly excited hands and being distracted by each other to get everything off. Cloaks and gloves and pouches and knives and weapons and boots lay scattered on the floor around the lounge. The entire time the ship’s internal temperature just kept climbing. They barely noticed. Wolf’s skin was comfortable to the touch and Shin knew it only was because he was burning the same temperature she was, their Solar Light reflecting off each other’s skin like a beautiful summer day.

“What else can I do to make you happy?” Shin asked her again so softly while she held his face, kissing him.

“I think you know,” she said, her mouth almost against his mouth before she kissed him again. “Just don’t burn my bed.”

He snorted. “You also might burn your bed I don’t want to hear it,” a smiled curled across his mouth.

“What? No.”

“Nice to know not even you can hold yourself back _all_ the time,” he smirked. She looked momentarily confused. “You’d be a lot more uncomfortable right now otherwise.” It took her a second and then like a match being snuffed out her skin was cool against his. Not like she’s switched to Stasis but just pulled the Light back. “You don’t have to do that,” he said patiently. “It’s perfectly normal.”

“Not for me,” she said.

Shin wasn’t going to argue with her. He wasn’t going to fuck up his chance here. “Okay,” was all he said. “What can I do then?”

He was surprised when Wolf pulled away from him. She’d just spent the last fifteen minutes not letting him get more than six inches away from her. But he perked up when she leaned back against the high side rest. She beckoned him with a single finger and that was all he needed to know.

Wolf threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling him down. He burned even hotter when her legs curled around his thighs, inviting him closer than he had any right to be. She kissed him softly before putting her lips up to his ear. He could barely hear her over the pounding in his ears of his racing heart. He wasn’t even sure it was anything specific but he wasn’t going to let that bother him. He’d do whatever she said, whatever she wanted.

It didn’t take much longer to figure it out. And not even Wolf could control everything about her Light during such heated moments. Her skin was still cool to the touch but the Light always found a way out. It shown out of her eyes, and when she opened her mouth around every noise wisps of pure Solar Light escaped, pooling across Shin’s face and skin briefly as a warm touch.

Shin was burned down to an ember when it was over. His breath ragged, any sweat having been evaporated as soon as it formed, so the dull red pressure marks from Wolf grabbing his back stood out harshly like a bruise. The ship was _stifling_ and every breath was like trying to breathe on the sun side of Mercury without a helmet. Shin hardly noticed any of that. He was just looking down at Wolf and he’d never ever seen her so relaxed. Her eyes were lidded and every usual sharp and stressed plane of her body was soft and relaxed, every usually strained muscle was at rest.

“How was that?” he asked her softly once he caught his breath.

Her response was to just slide her hands up his naked chest to his shoulders and pull him down, kissing him. He leaned into it. “I needed that,” she said when they parted. “I think we both needed that.”

“Yeah,” he couldn’t help the smile that formed on his lips. She smiled too and then yawned, covering her mouth.

“Sorry.”

“Well my Ghost did wake you last night.”

“Nah. I was up. Couldn’t sleep.” Shin frowned at her. She ran one hand across his neck and shoulder. She sighed softly, eyes closing. “Nap might be in order if you’re good?”

Shin sputtered. “If I’m- idiot,” he huffed at her.

“Don’t call me that, I’m tired,” she pouted at him. It was really cute.

“If you got enough I’m fine,” he said.

She got a dreamy sort of look in her eyes. “Yeah. I did,” she said, hand on his shoulder going up to his jaw. He leaned down and nuzzled her. “This time,” she added and he chuckled into her neck. Well at least he knew he’d earned himself a repeat performance.

Wolf slid down the side of the lounge to where there were some more pillows and made herself comfortable. The sofa bed was barely big enough for two but luckily they were both Hunters. Shin jammed himself against the actual back of the lounge, not in the most comfortable position but he wasn’t really worried about it. He was only a little tired. Wolf sat up briefly to open a cubby over the lounge and pulled out a blanket. Probably her Ghost had vented all the hot air in the ship out into space and it was a comfortable temperature again. Wolf shook out the blanket over the both of them and laid down. It had a replica design of the Six Coyotes on it. Who knew Wolf even knew other teams existed. Maybe she even looked up to them? That was a weird thought.

He was distracted from that thought when Wolf curled up next to him. Her eyes already closed. Before she fell asleep one of her legs curled against Shin’s. She gave a soft sigh of content when he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. He was surprised when she was asleep in moments.

Shin didn’t sleep. He dozed on and off. Somewhere on the ship he heard their Ghosts moving around, transmatting discarded clothing off the floor, bumping against each other in the air. They sounded like the soft clatter of porcelain or a wind chime without the echo. Between that and the sound of the engine Shin almost did fall asleep.

He glanced up when Wolf’s Ghost suddenly zipped over to them, hovering completely frozen in the air. “What?” Shin asked quietly.

The Ghost looked _very_ torn. “Wake her up.”

“What? No,” he hissed.

“It’s important.”

“When did she sleep last?”

Her Ghost looked as upset as Shin saying they needed to wake Wolf. “A while ago. But this is very important.”

“Like how important?”

“I can hear you guys,” Wolf groaned groggily against his chest. Shin and her Ghost shared a look of guilt having woken her up. “What is it?” Her Ghost hesitated. “Just tell me, I’m not putting on my helmet,” she sighed.

“A Cabal assassin almost killed Zavala-

“What!” Wolf sat bolt upright, startling Shin, throwing the blanket. “You’re lying,” she accused her Ghost.

“No. It happened last night. Osiris sent a message about it this morning.”

“And you didn’t _tell me_?” Wolf demanded.

“It had already happened, the psion dead, so there wasn’t much you could do and you were... distracted,” he said at length.

“Ugggh,” she hung her head and put her face in one hand. “What else does the message say?”

“To return to the H.E.L.M at once they can discuss the next plan of action.”

Wolf sighed. “Of course.” Then she muttered under her breath, “Can’t even have one night to relax.” She got up, stretching and cracking her back. Shin appreciated the curve of her back as she did, the gentle slope of her hips. Then in an instant it was all covered up in her armor except for her helmet. “ETA?”

“Five minutes to clear the atmosphere. I brought the ship around near the City while you were sleeping,” her Ghost said.

“Right,” she didn’t sound thrilled about it. Then she remembered Shin was still there. She looked over her shoulder. “You gotta go too,” she said apologetically.

“You sure?” Shin asked carefully.

“Can’t have you bumming around in my ship. And I don’t know how long I’ll be in the Tower.”

Shin’s response was to just get off the lounge. His Ghost made his pants appear on him without asking. But he was being cheeky and left him shirtless. “Is Zavala alright?”

“He’s fine,” her Ghost said. “He killed the psion. But apparently it was close. His Ghost was almost caged as well.”

Wolf ran her hand down her face. Shin didn’t understand. “That thing Gaul used on the Traveler,” Shin nodded, “little one, for a Ghost. To real death a Guardian.”

“That’s messed up.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. Then she turned and looked at Shin properly, saw he was shirtless, and her eyes scoured him, knowing all the places her hands had been. Felt nice to be appreciated. “That’s a good look on you,” she said and he chuckled.

“We’re coming around to the Tower,” her Ghost said.

“Everything going to be alright?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’ll deal with it, as always. Nothing I can’t handle.”

“I’d offer to help but I know Glitterbomb already beat me to it,” he said sarcastically.

She smirked. “Don’t worry. You’re call number two,” and in her boots she was just tall enough to reach his lips without him having to bend down too much. He still had to when he realized what she wanted. He reached up and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand while he kissed her, savoring it. If she was going to be busy with this who knew when he’d see her again. He was glad she seemed to enjoy this last moment as much as he did.

“Wolf we need to-

“I know,” she turned and snapped at her Ghost. “I get it, world’s ending, for the Tower and I need to be there. Give me a fucking minute here.” Her Ghost was taken aback. She’d clearly never yelled at him before, it was easy to tell by the way his prongs drooped. Then she sighed realizing she’d been mean. “Sorry bud,” she collected him out of the air and pulled him close. If a Ghost could look remorseful hers did looking up at her. Shin knew he didn’t _really_ want to disturb her. But he was probably getting all sorts of demanding messages from very demanding people wondering where Wolf was and why wasn’t she here already.

“You need to go,” Shin said as Wolf stroked her Ghost comfortingly so he knew she wasn’t actually mad at him.

“I do,” she said regretfully.

“I’ll be here when you get back.”

She softened. “Thanks. Just put some clothes on before you leave my ship,” she teased him.

Her chuckled. “Hear that Ghost?” he called to his. “Lady’s orders.”

“I suppose,” came his Ghost’s quiet reply.

“Fuck those Cabal up,” he said as a goodbye.

“Don’t know any other way,” and she kissed him on the cheek before her helmet appeared on her head and her Ghost transmatted her away. Shin smiled faintly.

He looked around for his Ghost and found him high up against the roof of the ship. “Well?”

“You’re actually obeying and going to leave?”

“Uh, yeah? That’s kinda what you’re supposed to do when someone asks you to get the fuck out of their house,” Shin said.

“Hmph! Guess you have changed.”

“Don’t sound so smug,” Shin sound sourly. Any other smart remark was taken up by all his armor appearing on him at once. Then he was down at the Tower’s main LZ. A moment after he arrived his Ghost wrapped his helmet around Shin’s face, transmatting it from his apartment deep in the Wall. The Tower was abuzz with news of what had happened with Zavala, and there were more Guardians milling around than usual this late in the morning. There were especially a lot of anxious Titans hanging around.

“So now what?” his Ghost asked him, sitting lightly on his shoulder hiding in his hood.

“This is a useless display of force,” Shin scoffed.

“It makes them feel better.”

“I guess. How long I been stuck in the Tower?”

“About a month and a half.”

“Probably going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future huh?”

“Most Guardians don’t see being home as being ‘stuck’,” his Ghost said.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes. Probably.”

“Hmm,” Shin walked across the Tower’s main area, technically heading for the nearest door to his room. It was down the stairs next to where Banshee had set up shop. He paused. “Is signing up for Crucible the same?”

“Ugh, yes,” his Ghost huffed. His Ghost hated playing Crucible.”

“That should waste my time for a while. Sign me up for the next games. If Shaxx is even _having_ any games today.”

“It’s Shaxx. The Red Legion would have to come back for him to cancel Crucible,” his Ghost said blandly. Shin chuckled and nodded. “I guess you also want me to pull your Crucible gear out of the vault too?”

“Yeap,” Shin said and continued down the steps to his quarters. “And need to watch a VOD or two, see what the meta is now.” His Ghost just sighed a long suffering sigh.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah Shin, a date. You know those things you go on with people you wanna make out with???? _Idiot_ /.
> 
> Leave a comment if you're enjoying watching Shin come to terms with the fact that he's WAY out of Wolf's league. Like bruh


End file.
